


Note Taking

by Ajisai



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M, Happy Ending, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:53:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5730208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ajisai/pseuds/Ajisai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara inadvertently learns about James' plans, and then (almost, inadvertently) ruins them.  For klutzy_girl's 2015 fandom_stocking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Note Taking

There’s a lot that Kara sees in her capacity as personal assistant that she keeps quiet about. When she delivers mail, or brings files down to offices, she’s gotten good at waiting, passing time by surveying the desks in the departments around her. _Knowledge is power_ , she tries to remember, _just a different sort than I’m used to_. Her colleagues’ schedules are on spreadsheets and calendar programs that pop up every now and then, penciled onto post-its stuck to phones, cryptic scrawls that hint at their lives outside the office and the complicated layers inside it:

\--Dr. L, 11:00 Tuesday, Co-pay due.

* Note to self: never ask Arnold in accounting about The Excel Incident again.

> Call Lisa re: surprise party for Mom.

~ Eggs?? Sugar! The 13th!

10:45AM: Ask for raise. 10:50AM: Update resume after Cat *$%^ing Grant fires me.

She ignores most of them, smiles at a few. Work life proceeds.

But then one takes her by surprise. One Tuesday morning, she’s waiting for James, standing just inside his office. She can see him down the hall, where he’s deep in conversation with Hiroaki, one of the art department consultants, and from the way they’re talking, neither one is going to stop anytime soon. Thinking about what the conversation must entail ( _Photoshop_ , she bets herself, _Photoshop and its many, many ridiculous, time-sink-inducing “tools,” according to James_ ) she allows herself to glance over at his desk. He’s neater than a lot of their coworkers, but there’s always at least one messy pile. Today, it’s next to his computer, papers and magazines haphazardly stacked and threatening to slide over. She moves to catch an errant paper that’s dangerously close to the edge of the desk, and that’s when she sees it, the post-it note next to his phone:

Tomorrow: Meet Jose & Mrs. DeForrest at Justice Park. Catcher’s mitt. Fingerprints.

Behind her, there’s the sound of a conversation nearing, and she hastily steps away from the desk, puzzled by the contents of what she’s just seen.

“—Seriously, just leave it as a jpeg.”

“I still say RAW is better, but I’ll try it your way,” Hiroaki says, sounding dubious. “Hi, Kara.”

“Hi,” she says, but he’s already moved on, not waiting for a reply. James shrugs.

“No convincing that man,” he remarks, turning his attention fully to her. “Are those my proofs?”

“Yes. Cat wants them—“

“Let me guess. 5 minutes ago? Yesterday?”

She laughs, perhaps a little too loudly. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“She can wait a few minutes for me to get it right the first time,” he answers. “I’ll take them back to her. She’ll have questions anyway. Sorry to make you wait.”

She pauses. So many questions she wants to ask, but that would mean letting him ask some, too, and there’s part of her that’s a little bit horrified by that possibility. _But it would be worth it if—_

His phone chimes. From the look on his face, she can see that it’s Lucy, and that’s all the reason she needs to turn on one foot and hurry out of his office.

~~~

She swears she doesn’t plan it, but the next day she’s near Justice Park, in a more official capacity than she would have preferred. There’s a bank robbery afoot a block away, and it’s easily stopped; she’s chasing the last robber down when she realizes that he’s trying to make a break for the park. She can hear Alex’s voice on the bud in her ear, mixing with the sound of air rushing by as she flies: “Is he contained? Should we send the police in?”

“Not yet!” She swerves around a tree in the park, trying to cut the thief off, and then, to her horror, there’s James, looking apprehensive and standing protectively in front of a dark-haired, young boy, who’s maybe seven or eight. There’s an older lady behind the two of them, her face a mask of offended terror. The thief waves his gun at them but as he does that, he takes his eyes off her, and in that moment, she knows she has to act. 

Alex is saying something else, but there’s no time to think about it. She grabs the man’s arm, pulling him off balance and twisting his wrist just hard enough to get him to drop the weapon, not actually break it. He yelps in pain nonetheless and drops to the ground. She can see James moving swiftly, kicking the gun out of the man’s reach.

“Now’s a good time for the cops,” she tells Alex, but the wailing of a nearby siren tells her that her sister is one step ahead of her already.

“Wow, Supergirl!” The boy behind James exclaims, a wide grin on his face. Her earlier, hurried assessment that he was about seven or eight appears to be correct. He’s thin, too, but the excitement on his face at seeing her goes a long way towards making her feel he’s all right and not at all shaken by what he’s just seen.

“It’s OK.” James smiles, that blinding, winning smile of his. “She’s a friend of mine.”

Jose looks as though he’s about to rush forward and wrap his arms around her, but he’s stopped by the older woman from before. She’s wearing a pair of black-framed glasses on a long, beaded chain that clinks as she moves, and her skin is pale, as though she’s not stepped outside in days; it makes her look far older than Kara suspects she actually is. She holds up a one arm in a warning motion, pushing the boy back a few steps, her ragged cardigan the same shade of blue as Kara’s suit. “Jose, it’s not safe. That is, I’m not sure….”

“Are you kidding? That was awesome!” Jose exclaims. “Did you see that?!”

The situation doesn’t get any less awkward, and Kara frowns. For the first time, she sees that all three of them are wearing the same yellow t-shirt: Big Brothers Big Sisters Capitol City, and then it all becomes clear, the post-it note, the catcher’s mitt, the fingerprints. She takes a deep breath, trying to think what would be best to say.

“Sorry about that, Mrs. DeForrest, but this isn’t something that’s going to happen every time,” James explains.

Mrs. DeForrest looks at both of them, her brow furrowing as though she doesn’t like what she sees. “I’m not sure you’re a good fit for this organization after all, Mr. Olsen.” She lowers her voice as she pulls Jose another step back, but Kara hears her mutter, “alien vigilante, putting a child in danger!”

“But I like him!” Jose protests, but seeing Mrs. DeForrest’s face, he quiets down immediately and sighs, a sound that echoes with defeat.

James takes a deep breath, evidently trying to manage his frustration. “This is a coincidence. I promise you this won’t ever happen again. We’ll be at the youth center anyway, which isn’t exactly a hotbed of crime.”

“There was a gun, and it was near one of the children. I know there are extenuating circumstances, but this is unacceptable,” Mrs. DeForrest answers, one of her hands clenched into a small fist. The folder of papers she’s carrying in the other hand trembles.

“Mrs. DeForrest, Mr. Olsen would make an excellent Big Brother,” Kara says, the words spilling over. She knows her face is reddening at the words ‘alien vigilante’ and ‘child in danger’ but she shoves her anger aside. “He’s smart and organized, and he truly cares about his friends and family. He’s worked hard to get where he is today, overcome a lot of odds, and he would make a great role model. Isn’t that exactly the kind of person you’d want to mentor a child?” 

“Perhaps.” Mrs. DeForrest motions at the police who are hurriedly coming towards them, and a few members of the press who follow far behind. “Don’t you need to speak to your adoring public?”

“That’s what this is about? You think I’m in it for the glory?”

“That’s what I’m hearing from people like Maxwell Lord. He knows what he’s talking about.”

_Count backwards from 10_ , Kara thinks. _Count backwards; don’t let her get to you._ “I can assure you that I just want this city to be a safe place. If you have issues with me, though, please take them up with me. Don’t let them ruin my friend’s chances to help out someone out.”

There’s a tense moment. The police are almost there when Mrs. DeForrest says, “Well, then. Mr. Olsen, as long as these fingerprints check out, you’re in. Miss… Supergirl, you’re a surprise. I suppose I’m pleased to have met you.”

Kara doesn’t feel like adding that the feeling is mutual (because it’s not, really) but the grateful expression on James’ face is enough and Jose’s whoop of joy is pretty good, too. Just as one of the officers reaches her, she can hear Jose asking, “Do you guys hang out all the time? How do you know her?”

“It’s a long story,” he answers, and the warmth in his voice is unmistakable. It goes a long way towards alleviating her guilt that she nearly cost him an opportunity to do some good in the city, to make someone else’s life better. _Because if there’s one thing James Olsen is good at, it’s making other people feel safe and happy about themselves and their lives._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to therck for the beta! Also thanks to my brother-in-law who, when asked about the technical matters/jargon that James and other employees might argue about as photojournalists and editors, went off on a half-hour text/in-person rant about RAW vs. jpg formatting issues. He is the best!


End file.
